Earth:"Primitive and Deadly"

This Seattle band's founder Dylan Carlson reportedly bought the gun that Kurt Cobain used to kill himself. This marks their 7th full length and my first foray into their world.   Earth's appeal really depends on how slow you like your drone rock. They capture the sounds well and have some cool riffs, but often never develop past , well here's a cool riff into an actual song. To the point that Mark Laneggan's vocals on "There is a Serpent Coming" sounds like he is just improvising in the studio rather than trying to create a song. The vocals of Rose Widow's Rabia Qazi do tend to work better on the more drifting "From the Zodiacal Light".

By the third song I do get that this is there thing to just pick a riff and ride it out, so I can stop waiting for any sort of dynamic variance So that leaves me going into the rest of the album fully aware this is not going to be my thing. I like slow and I like drone to an extinct as i love funeral doom, but that is much more layered and dynamic than what goes on here. They do wander into more of a blues based thing on "Even Hell Has it's Heroes". They drench it in elements of psychedelia and have a really go guitar tone through out the album, in fact compared to the bit's a pieces I have heard of this band previously this is a much more metal album , at least in terms of guitar tone. The phrasing in the some times very David Gilmore like solos is pretty remarkable.

"Rooks Across the Gate" floats long similar Obscured by Couds like wave, this time Lanegan's vocals fall between the cracks with more assurance.The album ends on the longest song , the twelve plus minute"Badger's Bane". This song is slightly more doomy , but doesn't really go anywhere new. At the five minute mark it starts to fade out into drums and noise, it does build back up in the first display of dynamics I have heard on this album.

I know these guys are cult favorites and maybe this is the band taking a turn in a different direction and I should check out the first album, But guitars aside I don't think some of the other elements like the minimal drums are ever really going to catch on with me.Sure they are backed by guys from Sunn o and Built to Spill on this one , but it still doesn't grab me. I will give it a 6 because it sounds great and they succeeded in what they set out to do it just isn't my thing.